With over 100 varieties of bamboo, a native to Asia, only ten or so are grown for their edible shoots. Bamboo Shoots are harvested as soon as they appear as offspring of bamboo plant above the ground, while they are still young. The ivory-colored shoots of the bamboo plant, is a popular item in Chinese cooking. As edible vegetable it is long been included in the oriental recipes: boiled, saut�ed, or steamed as an accompaniment to meat or fish, in stir fry vegetables, with meat added like chicken, pork or beef, as filling for spring rolls, in soup, fried noodles etc. Braised in soy sauce and spices, sliced Bamboo Shoots are often served as appetizers or added to soups, stews and various other Oriental dishes.

In general, canned bamboo shoots are easier to obtain than fresh shoots which are expensive and seasonal. To refresh the canned bambooo shoots, rinse them in hot water to get rid of any "tinny" taste and quickly blanch before use. Unused bamboo shoots should be stored in the refrigerator in a jar of water, with the water changed daily. Edible bamboo shoots fall into two broad categories, winter and spring shoots. Spring shoots are larger and tougher than winter shoots.

Two kinds of bamboo shoots are used: the cultivated called "TONG", from the central part of Thailand, and the naturally wild grown called "BONG" usually found in the northern part of Thailand, especially in the districts of Mae-sod and Mae-lamad. Both looks quite similar to each other. BONG tends to have darker yellow color and smells much more pungent. Applications depend on individuals's preferences and culinary recipes. The Asian customers prefer the better tasting cultivated, the Europeans prever the cheaper wild. Supplied in salt water, preserved, in following styles:

1) Whole outside leafs cut off. Suitable for fried or boiled Chinese food 2) Half: wholes cut in half. Suitable for cooking with beef, pork or chicken 3) Top: only the top of the shoot. Easy to cook in many types of foods: salad, stirr fry and soups. 4) Strip: also called 'matches',cut into thin strips. For soups, salads, fried dishes, fish, fillings etc.5) Sliced:cut into thin slices. Same as strips, for salads, stir fry, with meat and/or other vegetables. 6) Diced: cut into small cubes. For making soups or salads

Baby corn is produced from regular corn plants Zea mays L., which are harvested early while the ears are very immature, resulting in small ears or "baby corn." The entire tiny ear of corn is edible, cob and all.

c) sweet corn

Whole-grain, with the kernels generally whole and packed in a relatively clear liquid. Vacuum-pack is a canning process with whole-grain kernels intact, but little or no liquid present. Most canned corn is prepared from yellow or golden- colored varieties Vacuum-pack is a canning process with whole-grain kernels intact, but little or no liquid present. Sweet corn looks like the ordinary field corn for cattle feed, but this variety has a better sweet taste due to its high sugar content - up to 12% sugar, twice the amount found in field corn. Main production is from Oct till May.

d) corn-on-cob

The complete cob is canned, mostly 3-4 cobs in one bigger can, 30 oz or bigger.

Baby corn is a cereal grain taken from specialized sweet corn (maize) plants harvested early, while the ears are very small and immature. Baby corn ears are hand-picked as soon as corn silks emerge from the ear tips or a few days after. Baby corn ears are generally about 4.5 cm to 10 cm in length and 7 mm to 17 mm in diameter. Depending on the specifications, 13 up, 15 up till 50 up "spears" are packed in one can with a drained weight of 225 g. The product is also available as 'cut" or 'pieces".

The product can be used as vegetable in many dishes, in stirr-fry meals, in salads as a kind of decoration, in soups. The corn may have peppers or pimentos or other foods added for flavor or appearance.

At present, Thai farmers mostly use 5 varieties in their cultivation and all belong to hybrid baby corn. These are Suwan1, Suwan 2, Suwan 3, Rang sit 1 and Chiangmai 90,which have been developed to resist downy mildew, grow rapidly. Baby corn is ready for harvests after seeds germinate and grow for 45-60 days, during which the plant is in full production. It is a short-lived plant so it can bear produce only once, yielding 3-4 ears per tree. However, farmers can grow baby corn 4-5 times a year.

Lychee (Litchi chinensis Som.) belongs to the family Sapindaceae (soapberry) which also includes rambutan (the 'hairy" Nephelium lappaceum L.) and longan ( brown skin, Dimocarpus longan Lour). The crop originated from the southern provinces of China and thrives well under its subtropical climate. There is some evidence to suggest that wild lychees may have also originated in northern mountain regions of Vietnam.

Commercial planting and growing of lychees in China is primarily in the provinces of Guangdong, Gangxi, Hainan, Fujian, Yunnan, Taiwan and a small, special area of Sichuan/Szechuan with a unique micro-climate. Guangdong is called 'the Kingdom of Lychee' because the province has the highest and best lychee production in China and lychees are grown almost everywhere in the province. In Guangdong there is a grove that has a lychee production record of over 2000 years!

It is said the Imperial concubine Lady Yang Kuei Fei of the last emperor of the T'ang dynasty, Hsuan Tsung (A.D. 712-756) had a passion for fresh lychee fruit. To woo Lady Yang Kuei Fei, the emperor had them brought from Canton in Southern China to his northern palace, a distance of 600 miles. The emperor arranged for guards mounted on fast horses to convey the Lychees in a "Pony Express" so that Lady Yang Kuei Fei would get her Lychees while they were still fresh, as the fruit perishes quickly, in 3-5 days.

From its place of origin, the crop spread to Myanmar, Laos, Taiwan, India, Australia, South Africa, California, and Florida, USA where it is largely cultivated in subtropical climate.

The lychee is widely known as litchi and regionally as lichi, lichee, laichi, leechee or lychee. The fruit has an outer, thin-shelled skin (red changing to brown as the fruit ripens) which, when peeled away, reveals white, succulent flesh of a grape-like texture. A hard seed is at the core of the fruit. Like citrus fruits and black currants, lychees are high in vitamin "C" (at levels of 40�90 mg/100 g, five grape-sized fruit are enough for your daily needs) and also natural sugars.

Only a limited range of areas, where commercial cultivation is large enough to supply to canneries for world-wide exports: Northern Thailand, Northern Vietnam, and China:

In China, canned products are processed in Guangxi and Fujian, while fresh lychees are from the another 2 provinces Hainan and Guangdong for domestic markets (also some export) at the beginning of the season each year, starting end of June and depands on the weather each year. The crop time in Fujian is usualy 7-10 days later than Guangxi's. In Guangxi area the HeiYe is mostly used, in Fujian the WuYe. The flesh of this variety might turn a little pink after some time.

In Thailand lychee was initially cultivated in northern parts of Thailand particularly in the provinces of Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai, Phayao, and Nam that have subtropical climate. These places have an elevation of over 1,000 meters above sea level (MASL). Then cultivars were developed for tropical lowland of the southern parts of Thailand like Samot Sakhun and Chanthaburi whose climatic condition was similar to that of the Philippines.

The Thai crop is shorter and earlier: April for .. 3-4 weeks. The Thai variety is seen as the nicest tasting, only the variety Hong Huay ( or Tai Soi ) is used. Depending on the quantity of berries to get a drained weight of 225 g, the size is called Large (16-20 berries per can) , Medium ( 21-24) or Small (25-28). Also available as "broken"

The can size 20oz (565 ml) is the normal specification in int'l market. Except an order is placed before the season, (nearly) no factory will produce 15oz (425 ml), 30oz (850 ml) and A10 (2.9 L).

The longan is very similar to the lychee, with a yellowish or reddish brown fruit and a gummy white aril. Its flesh, which is less aromatic than that the lychee, surrounds a round shiny jet-black seed with a circular white spot at the base. The appearance of the seed has given rise to one of the longan's other names - the dragon's eye. Sometimes these seeds, which have a high saponin (a soap-like compound) content, are used as a hair shampoo.

Unlike the lychee and longan, rambutans originate in the humid tropics. The name rambutan derives from the Malaysian word rambut meaning a hair and has arisen from the 'hairy' surface of the fruit which consists of numerous soft red spines covering a pinkish red or yellow skin. Inside the skin, the edible fleshy white aril is juicy and sweet.

Mango slices in syrupCapacity : 425 ml

drained weight 225-230 g

�Mango (Mangifera indica L.) is believed to have first originated from the Indo-Myanmar region where it was known to have been cultivated for over 4,000 years ago. Later, mangoes spread throughout the tropics of Africa, Asia and America.

�Mangoes are excellent source of vitamin A and C which normally vary with variety and maturity of the fruits.

Canned mangos are produced in accordance to the Codex Alimentarius standard o the WHO nr STAN 159-1987

During the process mango slices are immersed in 0.1% calcium chloride solution for 1 hour and addition of syrup at 20�Brix to give the product with the highest score of texture acceptance . Without the canned fruit will soon fall apart in the can. To keep a good appearance, citric acic E 330( 0,01%) as a process aid for good appearance (not gray) and ascorbic acid as anti-oxidant are added before sterilisation to adjust the pH value .

In

Manggo (Mangifera indica) is a popular fruit throughout the tropics only second to pineapple in quantity and value among internationally traded tropical fruits. There is usually one fruiting season a year

There are many types of mango in Thailand, the largest supplier to world-wide distribution The taste varies from sour, mild, sweet and sweet and sour. Kaew is one of the commercial varieties of economic importance to the mango industry in Thailand.Kaew clones are collected from the North, Northeast and Central Thailand. The mature unripe mango with yellow color and firm texture is suitable for processing. The season is from March to June.Kaew has a mean fruit weight of a 250 g. with 81% flesh.The fine texture, low fiber content and firm flesh.

Mango (Mangiferaindica L.) with many versatile properties has naturally found application for processing into various products application for processing into various products unparalleled by any other fruit. It is however estimated that 0.22% of mangoes produced in the world is only utilised for processing.

Green mangoes are processed into traditional products like pickle, brine stock and chutney. Instant mango pickle, drum-dried green mango powder, production of raw mango beverage base are the new developments.

As coconut milk is made from natural raw material, which properties vary among crops, harvest places, varieties and time of the season, a spread of fat content of + / - 1% is caused despite a strict recipe and production process. There are no official standards ( like e-grade, "economy"), but purely depending on factory. Fat content is by laboratory, so a fixed grade.

Only a food additive, sodium meta bisulfite E223 or its potassion alternative E 224, is added during the production process to remain its white colour. The same like a bite in a fresh apple: this will colour brown in a short time. As preservative only 0.01 % or 100 ppm Sodium metabisuphite (Na2S2O5) is added in the production process to prevent browning of the product. After the canning phase about 10-40 ppm will remain as residue. However in some countries, like Australia and New Zealand, even this is prohibited

In cold weather the coconut milk may de-homogenize, as creamy foam from the coconut milk might separate from the coconut water as a natural process and is not hampered by added emulsifiers, stabilizers etc. Also some protein skins or chips may develop. If the SO2-residue as preservative goes low, those protein skin might turn into a darket chip at the surface during the heat treatment of the sterilisation process.

Coconut milk can be used in nearly any dish to give it a coconut taste: boiling vegetables, frying meat, as a base for soups, stews, curries and sauces, drinks, ice-crean, in bakery and deserts. The low fat levels are especially used by those consumers who like to give their foods a coconut taste, with keeping the fat intake lowest.